Merchant action recommendation system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for recommending merchant actions include a physical merchant location having a plurality of beacon devices. A system provider device receives a plurality of first location information from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a customer beacon communication device that is associated with a customer. The system provider device also receives a plurality of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated with an asset of the merchant. The system provider device analyzes the plurality of first location information and the plurality of second location information to determine at least one merchant action recommendation related to the customer and the asset of the merchant and provides the at least one merchant action recommendation over the network for display on a display device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Non Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 16/742,599, filed Jan. 14, 2020, which is acontinuation of U.S. Non Provisional patent application Ser. No.14/191,290 filed Feb. 26, 2014 which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/909,070, attorney docket #70481.1176(P2321PRV), filed on Nov. 26, 2013, each of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure generally relates to online and physical merchantlocations, and more particularly to a merchant action recommendationsystem for online and physical merchant locations.

Related Art

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobilepurchases are growing very quickly.

Some payment service providers provide online and mobile paymentservices for merchants with either of both of online and physicalmerchant locations. For example, payment service providers may providethe online and/or mobile payment services discussed above, and in thecourse of doing so, collect data about customer payment habits with themerchants. However, such data is limited to transactions conductedbetween customers and merchants, and thus any attempt to analyze thatdata and provide actionable recommendations based on the results islimited to data collected from customers that have actually purchasedsomething from that merchant or other merchants.

Thus, there is a need for an improved merchant action recommendationsystem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantphysical location.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a beacondevice;

FIG. 3a is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation system that includes a plurality of the beacondevices of FIG. 2 in the merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3b is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the merchantaction recommendation system of FIG. 3a with the beacon devicesproviding communication areas;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for recommending merchantactions;

FIG. 5a is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of customers atthe merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5b is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of customers atthe merchant physical location of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5c is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen displayed on a merchant device;

FIG. 5d is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen displayed on a merchant device;

FIG. 5e is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen displayed on a merchant device;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantbeacon communication device;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantphysical location;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an inventorylevel in the merchant physical location of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a primary levelin the merchant physical location of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an upper levelin the merchant physical location of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the inventory level of FIG. 8 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 12 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the primary level of FIG. 9 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 13 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the upper level of FIG. 10 displayed ona merchant device;

FIG. 14 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the primary level of FIG. 9 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 15 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the inventory level of FIG. 8 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 16 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the inventory level of FIG. 8 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 17 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantaction recommendation screen for the primary level of FIG. 9 displayedon a merchant device;

FIG. 18 is a screen shot view illustrating an embodiment of a cumulativemerchant action recommendation screen for a plurality of merchantphysical locations displayed on a merchant device;

FIG. 19 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a customerdevice;

FIG. 21 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a merchantdevice;

FIG. 22 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 23 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a system and method for recommendingactions to merchants based on the movements of customers and merchantassets through a physical merchant location of the merchant. Themerchant may provide a plurality of beacon devices throughout thephysical merchant location, and in some cases outside of the physicalmerchant location, in order to collect data from customers through theircustomer beacon communication devices such as, for example, customersphones. In addition, the merchant may provide merchant beaconcommunication devices on assets associated with the merchant, which mayinclude employees, products, product holders, and/or vehicles associatedwith the merchant (e.g., supply vehicles). The beacon devices may thenoperate to collect location information from the customer beaconcommunication devices and the merchant beacon communication devices, andthat location information may be collected and analyzed to determinedmerchant action recommendations for the merchant that will result inhigher efficiencies, revenue, and/or or a variety of other merchantcriteria known in the art. For example, the location information fromcustomers may be used to determine customer traffic patterns inside andoutside of the merchant physical location, which may result inrecommendations related to advertisements outside of the physicalmerchant location, configurations of the merchant physical locationitself, and/or a variety of other recommendations discussed below.Similarly, the location information from merchant assets may be used toprovide recommendations related to employee staffing, employeedeployment, product placement, and/or a variety of other recommendationsdiscussed below.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a merchant physical location100 is illustrated. The merchant physical location 100 includes amerchant building 102 having a plurality of exterior walls 102 a, 102 b,102 c, and 102 d that define a merchant physical location first area 104and a merchant physical location second area 106 that are separated byan interior wall 102 e. The exterior wall 102 a includes an exteriordoor 108 (e.g., a “front” door in the illustrated embodiment) and anexterior window 110. The exterior wall 102 c includes a plurality ofexterior doors 112 and 114 (e.g., (“rear” or “shipping” doors in theillustrated embodiment). The interior wall 102 e includes an interiordoor 116. An exterior walkway 118 (e.g., a sidewalk) is located oppositethe exterior wall 102 a from the merchant physical location first area104, and a plurality of vehicle areas 120 is located adjacent theexterior walkway 118. The merchant physical location first area 104includes a counter 122, a product shelf 124, and a plurality of productfixtures 126.

In one example, the merchant physical location 100 is a restaurant, andthe merchant physical location first area 104 is a dining room with theplurality of product fixtures 126 being tables, while the merchantphysical location second area 106 is a kitchen and supply area. Inanother example, the merchant physical location 100 is a clothing store,and the merchant physical location first area 104 is a clothing showroomwith the plurality of product fixtures 126 being clothing racks, whilethe merchant physical location second area 106 is a clothing storage andsupply area. However, while a few examples are discussed below, one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will recognizethat a wide variety of merchant physical locations will benefit from theteachings of the present disclosure and thus will fall within its scope.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of a beacon device 200 isillustrated. The beacon device 200 includes a chassis that houses afirst communications system 204 such as, for example, a Wificommunications system. The first communications system 204 is coupled toa beacon engine 206 that may be provided by instruction on a memorysystem (not illustrated) in the beacon device 200 that, when executed bya processing system (not illustrated) in the beacon device 200, causethe processing system to perform the functions of the beacon device 200discussed below. The beacon engine 206 is coupled to a secondcommunication system 208 such as, for example, a Bluetooth® Low Energy(BLE) communication system. The beacon engine 206 may be configured toreceive any of a variety of sensor signals through the secondcommunication system 208 and transmit those sensor signals using thefirst communication system 205. While a few examples of communicationscomponents in the beacon device 200 have been described, one of skill inthe art will recognize that other communications devices, as well asother components that have been omitted for clarity of discussion andillustrated, may be included in the beacon device 200 and will fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure. One of skill in the art willrecognize that the components described above allow for the beacondevice to be provided in a relatively small form factor such that it maybe placed inconspicuously almost anywhere. The chassis 202 of the beacondevice 200 may include any of a variety of features that allow for thecoupling of the beacon device to different areas in a merchant physicallocation, discussed below.

Referring now to FIGS. 3a and 3b , an embodiment of a portion 300 of amerchant action recommendation system 300 is illustrated. As illustratedin FIG. 3a , the merchant action recommendation system 300 is providedby positioned a plurality of the beacon devices 200, discussed abovewith reference to FIG. 2, in and around the merchant physical location100, discussed above with reference to FIG. 1. In the illustratedembodiment, a plurality of beacon devices 200 a may be positioned in themerchant physical location second area 106, a plurality of beacondevices 200 b may be positioned in the merchant physical location firstarea 104, and a plurality of beacon devices 200 c may be positionedadjacent the exterior walkway 118 and opposite the exterior wall 102 afrom the merchant physical location first area 104. As discussed above,the beacon devices 200 may be sized such that they may beinconspicuously positioned virtually anywhere in or around the merchantphysical location 100. For example, the beacon devices 200 a may bepositioned on the ceiling of the merchant physical location second area106; the beacon devices 200 b may be positioned on the ceiling, on theproduct fixtures 126 (e.g., in a rack, under a table, etc.), on thecounter 122, on the product shelf 124, etc., of the merchant physicallocation first area 104; and the beacon devices 200 c may be positionedon an awning or overhang that is located above the exterior walkway 118.Each of the beacon devices 200 in the merchant action recommendationsystem 300 may be configured to wirelessly communicate, via its firstcommunications system 204, with a merchant network communication device302 such as, for example, a Wifi wireless router connected to a networksuch as the Internet.

Referring now to FIG. 3b , in operation, each of the beacon devices 200is configured to create a communication area 304 with its secondcommunications system 204. For example, the second communications system204 in each beacon device 200 may be BLE communications device thatprovides an approximately 100 foot radius communications area. However,other communications systems providing other communications areas areenvisioned as falling within the scope of the present disclosure. As canbe seen in the illustrated embodiment, the beacon devices 200 may bepositioned in and around the merchant physical location 100 such thatthe communications areas 304 abut, overlap, or otherwise providecoverage for any area of interest within and around the merchantphysical location 100. As such, one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will appreciate that different configurations ofthe beacon devices 200 within and around the merchant physical location100 may be selected to cover any area within and around the merchantphysical location 100 with a communications area 304. As discussed infurther detail below, each of the beacon devices 200 are configured tocommunicate with beacon communication devices within their respectivecommunications area 304 (e.g., using the second communication system208) to collect data, and then send that data to the merchant networkcommunication device 302 (e.g., using the first communication system204) such that the data may be provided to a merchant device, a systemprovider device, and/or any other device operating to provide themerchant action recommendations discussed below.

In the embodiments illustrated and discussed below, the beacon devices200 and their communications areas 304 are not illustrated for clarityof illustration and discussed, but it should be understood that thecommunications and retrieval of information from beacon communicationdevices, and that provision of that information to a system providerdevice, is accomplished using beacon devices providing communicationsareas such as the beacon devices 200 and communications areas 304illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b . While a specific example of a merchantaction recommendation system 300 is provided, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that a wide varietyof different merchant physical locations may incorporate the beacondevices 200 in a variety of manners while remaining within its scope.

In the embodiments discussed below, the merchant action recommendationsystems and methods involve a system provider using a system providerdevice to retrieve information collected by the beacon devices 200through a network (e.g., the Internet). In such embodiments, the systemprovider may associate the merchant physical location 100 (or itsmerchant), the beacon devices 200, merchant devices, and/or othercomponents of the system with a merchant physical location account in adatabase located in a non-transitory memory. As such, informationreceived from the beacon devices and merchant devices may be associatedwith the merchant physical location account in the database, and anyresults of the analysis of that information may be stored in associatedwith that merchant physical location account. In other embodiments, thesystem provider device may be a merchant device that is local to themerchant physical location 100 and that communicates with the beacondevices 200 using the merchant network communication device 302

For example, FIGS. 1, 3 a, and 3 b illustrate a merchant physicallocation 100 that is a single building, and the beacon devices 200 arepositioned to provide communications areas 304 that cover the interiorof that single building, the exterior walkway 118 outside the front ofthat single building, and a shipping area outside the rear of the singlebuilding. However, beacon devices 200 may be positioned virtuallyanywhere to retrieve information associated with a merchant physicallocation. For example, the merchant physical location may be locatedadjacent to or associated with a parking lot, and beacon devices may bepositioned around that parking lot, at the entrances or exits of thatparking lot, and/or anywhere else relative to that parking lot in orderto collect and send information from beacon communication devices to thesystem provider device. In another example, the merchant physicallocation may be located in a mall, and beacon devices may be positionedaround that mall, at the entrances or exits of that mall, and/oranywhere else relative to that mall in order to collect and sendinformation from beacon communication devices to the system providerdevice. In some examples, the first communication system may beconnected to Wifi networks available outside the merchant physicallocation in order to communicate collected information to a systemprovider device. In other examples, the first communication system maybe a cellular communications system that allows the beacon devices to bepositioned anywhere in range of a cellular communications tower,allowing beacon devices in the merchant to be positioned in virtuallyany physical location when providing the merchant action recommendationsystem.

Referring now to FIGS. 4, 5 a, 5 b, 5 c, 5 d, and 5 e, an embodiment ofa method 400 for providing merchant action recommendations isillustrated. The method 400 begins at block 402 where locationinformation is collected. Referring first to FIG. 5a , an embodiment ofthe collection of location information at block 402 is illustrated. Inthe embodiments, discussed below, the term “customer” is applied topeople that participate in transactions with the merchant at themerchant physical location 100, as well as people that simply positionthemselves within range of a communication area 304 of a beacon device200 in the merchant physical location 100 (e.g., potential customers).FIG. 5a illustrates a plurality of customers 500 a, 500 b, 500 c, and500 d located on the exterior walkway 118 and vehicle areas 120. Atblock 402, the beacon devices (e.g., the beacon devices 200 cillustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b ) operate to communicate with customerbeacon communication devices on each of the customers 500 a-d in orderto collect location information associated with each of those customers500 a-d.

In an embodiment, the customer beacon communication devices on each ofthe customers 500 a 0 d may be customer mobile phones that areconfigured to communicate with the second communications systems 208 inthe beacon devices 200 when the customer mobile phones are located inthe communications areas 304 of the beacon devices 200. For example, thecustomer mobile phones may include BLE communications systems that areconfigured to communicate with the BLE communications systems in thebeacon devices 200 when the customer mobile phones are located in thecommunications areas 304 provided by those beacon devices 200. The BLEcommunications systems in the customer mobile phones may be configuredto access any data (e.g., stored in the customer mobile phone, fromsensors located in the customer mobile phone, over a network thecustomer mobile phone is connected to, in databases accessible by thecustomer mobile phone over the network, etc.)

and provide that data to the beacon devices 200.

In a specific embodiment, the merchant action recommendation system isprovided by a payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal,Inc. of San Jose, CA, that provides merchant services to allow themerchant to track merchant activities, and payment services that allowcustomers and merchants to perform transactions with each other. In suchembodiments, the merchants and customers may include accounts with thepayment service provider such that the merchant includes a merchantaccount (or the merchant physical location account discussed above) withthe payment service provider, and each customer includes a respectivecustomer account with the payment service provider. Thus, at block 402,each of the customers 500 a-d may include a customer account with apayment service provider that providers the merchant actionrecommendation system. In some embodiments, the customer mobile phone ofeach customer may include a payment service application that is linkedto a customer account and that provides for automatic communicationbetween the customer mobile phone and beacon device 200 when thecustomer mobile phone is located in a communications area 304 providedby the beacon device 200 (e.g., each of the customers 500 a-d may havepreviously provided permission for the exchange of data between thecustomer mobile phones and the beacon devices 200).

Thus, at block 402, each of the customers 500 a-500 d includes acustomer beacon communication device that is communicating with thebeacon devices 200 (e.g., the beacon devices 200 c of FIGS. 3a and 3b )when that customer is located in any of the communications areas 304. Atblock 402, the customer beacon communications devices of the customers500 a-d may operate to communicate location information available to ordetermined by the customer beacon communication devices to the beacondevices 200. In an embodiment, the customer beacon communication devicesmay be customer mobile phones that communicate location informationretrieved from location determination devices (e.g., Global PositioningSystem (GPS) devices) in the customer mobile phones. In anotherembodiment, the beacon devices 200 may be configured to determine alocation of the customer device using, for example, triangulation orother location determination techniques known in the art. As such, aseach customer 500 a-d moves through the communication areas 304 providedby the beacon devices 200, location information associated with thatcustomer (e.g., retrieved by the beacon devices 200 from that customersmobile phone) is collected by the beacon devices 200 (e.g., via itsfirst communication system 204) and sent by the beacon devices 200(e.g., via operation of its beacon engine 206 and use of its secondcommunication system 208) over the network to the system providerdevice. Thus, as the customers 500 a, 500 b, and 500 c move along theexterior walkway 118, their changing locations may be collected.Similarly, as the customer 500 d arrived in their vehicle 502,positioned their vehicle 502 in the vehicle area 120, and exited theirvehicle 502, their changing location may be collected. In someembodiments, the vehicle 502 may include a customer beacon communicationdevice that allows for the retrieval of location information from thevehicle 502 in substantially the same manner as described above.

Referring now to FIG. 5b , another embodiment of the collection oflocation information at block 402 is illustrated. FIG. 5b illustrates aplurality of customers 504 a, 504 b, 504 c located in the merchantphysical location first area 104, and a customer 504 d moving from theexterior walkway 118 and through the merchant physical location firstarea 104. Similarly as discussed above, location information may beretrieved from the customer beacon communication devices of each ofthose customers 504 a-d. In the illustrated example, the customers 504a-c may be seated at a table, or congregating around a product rack,while the customer 504 d may be moving along the exterior walkway 118,enter the merchant physical location first area 104, and move throughoutthe merchant physical location first area 104.

While a few examples have been illustrated and described, one of skillin the art will recognize how location information of customers may beretrieved using beacon devices position anywhere in or around themerchant physical location 100 and used to track the location of thosecustomers in, around, and/or relative to the merchant physical location100. As such, customers may be tracked entering, moving about, parkingin, and exiting a parking lot; entering, moving about, and exiting amall; moving past merchant physical locations;

entering, moving about, and existing merchant physical locations; and/ormoving through any location covered by a communication area 304 of abeacon device 200. Any location information retrieved from the customerbeacon communication device of a given customer may then be associatedwith that customer (e.g., via a customer account) and/or the merchant(e.g., via a merchant account or merchant physical location account)such that for the merchant physical location 100, collected locationinformation associated with any particular customer may be distinguishedfrom collected location information associated with other customers.

While the examples above discuss the collection of location information,any information available to the customer beacon communication devicemay also be collected. For example, temperature information fromtemperature sensors, humidity information from humidity sensors,pressure information from pressures sensors, physiological informationfrom physiological sensors, and/or any other sensed information may becommunicated from the customer beacon communication device to the beacondevices in substantially the same manner as discussed above for thelocation information. Furthermore, multiple different types of sensedinformation may be collected from a given customer beacon communicationdevice, allowing that information to be associated (e.g., location andtemperature information) such that trends around the merchant physicallocation 100 (e.g., a temperature profile within the merchant physicallocation) may be determined.

The method 400 the proceeds to block 404 where transaction informationis collected. In an embodiment, any of the customers discussed above mayenter the merchant physical location 100 and perform a transaction withthe merchant in order to purchase products and/or services. For example,a merchant may use a merchant device to perform transactions withcustomers by sending transaction information to the system providerdevice (e.g., a payment service provider), and that transactioninformation is collected by the system provider device and associatedwith the merchant (e.g., via a merchant account or merchant physicallocation account) and/or the customer (e.g., via a customer account) ina database. In some embodiments, the customer may use a customer device(e.g., a customer mobile phone) to participate in the transaction.Following block 404 of the method 400, transaction informationassociated with a plurality of transactions with different customers isassociated with the merchant in a database, and transactions may befurther associated with the customers with whom they were made.

The method 400 the proceeds to block 406 where inventory information iscollected. In an embodiment, inventory may be sent or received by themerchant at block 406, and the inventory information may be reported tothe system provider device for collection. For example, inventoryactions may occur in the merchant physical location second area 106, anda merchant or merchant employee may use a merchant device to report thereceipt of inventory, the sending of inventory, the destruction ofinventory, and/or any other inventory information known in the art. Thatinventory information is collected by the system provider device andassociated with the merchant (e.g., via a merchant account or merchantphysical location account), an inventory supplier, and/or an inventoryreceiver in a database. Following block 406 of the method 400, inventoryinformation associated with a plurality of inventory actions withdifferent inventory entities is associated with the merchant in adatabase, and inventory actions may be further associated with theinventory entities with whom they were made.

The method 400 the proceeds to block 408 where staffing information iscollected. In an embodiment, staff (e.g., merchant employees) may workat the merchant physical location, and staffing information may bereported to the system provider device for collection. For example,staff scheduling information may be entered into a merchant device,merchant employees may check in and out of the merchant device whenentering and leaving work at the merchant physical location 100, and/orother similar staffing information may be generated by the merchantemployees in performing their jobs. That staffing information iscollected by the system provider device and associated with the merchant(e.g., via a merchant account or merchant physical location account),the merchant employees, and/or the hours of operation of the merchantphysical location 100 in a database. Following block 408 of the method400, staffing information is associated with the merchant in a database.

The method 400 then proceeds to block 410 where merchant actionrecommendations are provided. FIGS. 5c, 5d, 5e, and 5f provide a fewexamples of how the data collected at blocks 402, 404, 406, and 408 maybe analyzed by the system provider device in order to determine andprovide merchant action recommendations. In those examples, a merchantdevice receives the merchant action recommendations from a systemprovider device over a network and displays those merchant actionrecommendations on a merchant action recommendation screen that isdisplayed on a display device of the merchant device. The merchantdevice that displays the merchant action recommendation screens mayinclude a mobile computing device, a desktop computing device, awearable computing device, and/or any other computing device having adisplay screen capable of displaying merchant action recommendations.

FIG. 5c illustrates a merchant action recommendation screen 506including a merchant physical location map 508 that provides a visuallayout of the merchant physical location 100, discussed above. In theembodiment of FIG. 5c , the system provider device has analyzed thelocation information collected at block 402 to determine trafficpatterns of customers on the exterior walkway 118 and into the merchantphysical location first area 104. As illustrated in FIG. 5c , aplurality of traffic pattern indicators 508 a, 508 b, and 508 c areprovided on the physical location map 508. A first traffic patternanalysis box 510 is associated with the traffic pattern indicator 508 aand informs the merchant that 64% of walk by traffic approaches from thesouth of the merchant physical location 100. A second traffic patternanalysis box 512 is associated with the traffic pattern indicator 508 band informs the merchant that 36% of walk by traffic approaches from thenorth of the merchant physical location 100. A third traffic patternanalysis box 514 is associated with the traffic pattern indicator 508 cand informs the merchant that 19% of walk by traffic stops to view anexternal menu (e.g., provided by the merchant such that it is viewablefrom the exterior walkway 118) for an average of 46 seconds, and 36% ofthose that stop to view the external menu enter the merchant physicallocation 100. The merchant action recommendation screen 506 alsoincludes an analysis and recommendation box 516 that providescomparisons to walk-by traffic statistics for similar merchants (e.g.,collected by other merchant action recommendations systems) such as, forexample, the percentage of walk by traffic that views an external menuand the percentage of external menu viewing customers that enter themerchant physical locations, and recommends merchant actions such as,for example, adding a second external menu at a position where themajority of traffic approaches the merchant physical location 100,providing take-home menus, providing a monitor displaying menu images ata position where the majority of traffic approaches the merchantphysical location 100, and considering a marketing campaign.

FIG. 5d illustrates a merchant action recommendation screen 518including the merchant physical location map 508 that provides thevisual layout of the merchant physical location 100, discussed above. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 5d , the system provider device has analyzed thelocation information collected at block 402 and the transactioninformation collected at block 404 to determine traffic patterns ofcustomers on the exterior walkway 118 and their results on sales for themerchant. As illustrated in FIG. 5c , a traffic pattern indicator 508 dthat is associated with a line for the merchant physical location 100 isprovided on the physical location map 508. A traffic pattern analysisbox 520 is associated with the traffic pattern indicator 508 d andinforms the merchant about a plurality of statistics associated with thetraffic pattern indicator 508 d including, in the illustratedembodiment, a busiest time for the line, an average time each customerwaits in the line, an average time it takes for a customer to wait inthe line and complete a sale, an average sale for a customer waiting inthe line, a gender breakdown for customers waiting in the line, an amerchant employee most often used by customers waiting in the line. Themerchant action recommendation screen 518 also includes an analysis andrecommendation box 522 that provides comparisons to line waitingstatistics for similar merchants (e.g., collected by other merchantaction recommendations systems) such as, for example, the net loss inrevenue per day based on a decrease in customers due to the average waittime, as well as an increased revenue that could be realized by reducingthat wait time, and recommends merchant actions such as, for example,adding cashiers at the counter during the busy periods, providing anin-line cashier, and promoting and providing incentives for mobile checkout.

FIG. 5e illustrates a merchant action recommendation screen 524including the merchant physical location map 508 that provides thevisual layout of the merchant physical location 100, discussed above. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 5e , the system provider device has analyzed thelocation information collected at block 402, the inventory informationcollected at block 406, and the staffing information collected at block408 to determine inventory and staffing patterns. As illustrated in FIG.5e , inventory pattern indicators 508 e, 508f, and 508g that areassociated with received and sent inventory from the merchant physicallocation 100 are provided on the physical location map 508.

An inventory pattern analysis box 526 is associated with the inventorypattern indicator 508 e and informs the merchant about a plurality ofstatistics associated with the inventory pattern indicator 508 eincluding, in the illustrated embodiment, a busiest time for inboundinventory, an average time that inbound inventory is located in themerchant physical location second area 106 before being stocked, and thenumber of employees used for that inbound inventory. An inventorypattern analysis box 528 is associated with the inventory patternindicator 508f and informs the merchant about a plurality of statisticsassociated with the inventory pattern indicator 508f including, in theillustrated embodiment, a busiest time for outbound inventory, anaverage time that outbound inventory is located in the merchant physicallocation second area 106 before leaving the merchant physical location100, and the number of employees used for that outbound inventory. Aninventory pattern analysis box 530 is associated with the inventorypattern indicator 508g and informs the merchant about a plurality ofstatistics associated with the inventory pattern indicator 508gincluding, in the illustrated embodiment, a busiest time formiscellaneous inbound inventory, an average time that miscellaneousinbound inventory is located in the merchant physical location secondarea 106 before being stocked, and the number of employees used for thatmiscellaneous inbound inventory.

The merchant action recommendation screen 524 also includes an analysisand recommendation box 532 that provides an analysis of the inventoryactions such as, for example, that the busiest inventory time coincideswith the merchant's busiest sales time (e.g., see, the traffic patternanalysis box 520 of FIG. 5d ) and the cost to the merchant for payingemployees during that time, and recommends merchant actions such as, forexample, changing inventory delivery times so that they do not coincidewith busy sales times, having inventory suppliers unload inventoryrather than merchant employees, and creating a permanent part timeposition for the busy inventory times.

While a few examples of merchant action recommendation screens have beendescribed, one of skill in the art in possession of the presentdisclosure will recognize how the merchant action recommendation system300 may collect any variety of information and use that information toanalyze the merchant business with regard to customers, transactions,employees, and inventory to determine inefficiencies and makerecommendations to address those inefficiencies. For example, referringback to FIG. 5b , the system provide device may analyze the locationinformation collected at block 402 to determine in-store behaviors suchas preferred tables and seating locations of customers, preferredclothing racks or products types of customers, preferences of groups ofcustomers, etc. Furthermore, the system provide device may analyze thelocation information collected at block 402 to determine other trafficpattern behaviors such as common paths for customers, common paths forgroups of customers, common paths for all customers, total timescustomers spend in the merchant physical location, common locations forgroups of customers, most popular locations in the merchant physicallocation for customers, customer traffic bottlenecks, the direction thatcustomers approach the merchant physical location from, the directionthat customers exit the merchant physical location to, the visibilityand effectiveness of marketing or menus, restroom usage, etc.

Further still, the system provider device may analyze the locationinformation collected at block 402 to determine other customer and/orsales behaviors such as the time a customer spends at any area withinthe merchant physical location, the total time or percentage of timecustomers spend in different areas of the merchant physical location,the sales performance of different areas of the merchant physicallocation, the time it takes customers to first interact with a merchantemployee, the time spent by customers with merchant employees, thenumber of merchant employees customers interact with, the path and timefor a customer to reach the counter 122, the time customers spend at thecounter 122, the path and time it takes to close a sale, the automaticassignment of a merchant employee to a customer based on proximity, etc.Thus, the location information, transaction information, staffinginformation, and/or inventory information may be used to providerecommended merchant actions to achieve vastly greater efficiencies thanare possible with conventional systems.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an embodiment of a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 is illustrated that can greatly expand thefunctionality of the merchant action recommendation systems discussedabove. The merchant beacon communication device 600 includes a chassis602 housing a communication system 604 such as, for example, a BLEcommunication system similar to the BLE communication system discussedabove for the customer beacon communication devices, that operates tocommunicate with the beacon devices 200 (e.g., via the secondcommunication systems 208). One or more sensors 606 are located in thechassis 602 and coupled to the communication system 604. In theembodiments discussed below, the sensors 606 include a locationdetermination device such as for example, a GPS device. However, othersensors 606 may include temperature sensors, humidity sensors,gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, barometric pressure sensors,battery/voltage sensors, light sensors, tilt sensors, touch sensors,pressure sensors, potentiometers, gas sensors, vibration sensors, heartbeat sensors, and/or a variety of other sensors known in the art. Inmany embodiments, the relatively small size of the components of themerchant beacon communication device 600 allows the chassis 602 to berelatively small and provided as (or included in) an employee badge, andadhesive sticker, a tag, and/or a variety of other form factors thatallow the merchant beacon communication device 600 to be coupled tomerchant assets such as, for example, merchant employees, merchantproducts, merchant product holders, merchant product transport devices,merchant vehicles, and/or a variety of other merchant assets known inthe art. As discussed in further detail below, the merchant beaconcommunication devices may be provided on any merchant asset to providethe data to the merchant action recommendation system related to thatmerchant asset for analysis and the provision of recommendations to themerchant.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of a multi-level merchantphysical location 700 is illustrated that includes an inventory level702 having an inventory door 702 a, a primary level 704 having a frontdoor 704, and an upper level 706. In the embodiments discussed below,each of the inventory level 702, the primary level 704, and the upperlevel 706 of the merchant physical location 700 include beacon devices200 in substantially the same manner as described above with referenceto the merchant action recommendation system 300 of FIGS. 3a and 3b ,with each of the beacon devices also configured to report the level thatthey are located on such that location information received from abeacon device 200 on the any of the inventory level 702, the primarylevel 704, and the upper level 706 may be distinguished from locationinformation received from a beacon device 200 on another level in themerchant physical location 700.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an embodiment of a portion of a merchant actionrecommendation system 800, is illustrated. The merchant recommendationsystem 800 includes an inventory level 802, which may be the inventorylevel 702 discussed above with reference to FIG. 7. The inventory level802 includes a plurality of exterior walls 802 a, 802 b, 802 c, and 802d, with a pair of inventory doors 802 e located on the exterior wall 802a. The merchant action recommendation system 800 includes a plurality ofmerchant employees 804, each of which includes an employee badge orother wearable article within which is incorporated a merchant beaconcommunication device 600. The merchant action recommendation system 800also includes a plurality of merchant associated vehicles 806 (e.g.,merchant owned vehicles, merchant supplier owned vehicles, etc.), eachof which includes a merchant beacon communication device 600 (e.g.,adhered or connected to the vehicle, included as part of the vehicle,etc.) The merchant action recommendation system 800 also includes aplurality of products 808, each of which includes a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 (e.g., including an adhesive such that themerchant beacon communication device 600 may be adhered to the productbox). The merchant action recommendation system 800 also includes aplurality of containers 810, each of which includes a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 (e.g., including an adhesive such that themerchant beacon communication device 600 may be adhered to the productbox). The merchant action recommendation system 800 also includes aplurality of racks or product holders 812, each of which includes amerchant beacon communication device 600 (e.g., including an adhesivesuch that the merchant beacon communication device 600 may be adhered tothe product box).

As discussed in further detail below, by including the merchant beaconcommunication devices 600 on each of the employees 804, merchantassociated vehicles 806, products 808, containers 812, and productracks/holders 812, the beacon devices 200 located throughout theinventory level 802 may communicate with each of the merchant beaconcommunication devices 600 to receive a variety of information from thesensors 606. As such, the location, temperature, humidity, orientation,forces, pressure, and/or other sensed properties may be periodicallyreported from each of the employees 804, merchant associated vehicles806, products 808, containers 812, and product racks/holders 812 to thesystem provider device, and associated by the system provider devicewith the inventory level 702/802 of the merchant physical location 700.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a portion of a merchant actionrecommendation system 900, is illustrated. The merchant recommendationsystem 900 includes a primary level 902, which may be the primary level704 discussed above with reference to FIG. 7. The primary level 902includes a plurality of exterior walls 902 a, 902 b, 902 c, and 902 dthat define a merchant physical location first area 904 and a merchantphysical location second area 906 that are separated by an interior wall902 e. The exterior wall 902 a includes an exterior door 908 (e.g., a“front” door in the illustrated embodiment) and an exterior window 910.The interior wall 902 e includes an interior door 912. An exteriorwalkway 914 (e.g., a sidewalk) is located opposite the exterior wall 902a from the merchant physical location first area 904. The merchantphysical location first area 904 includes a counter 916, a product shelf918, and a plurality of product fixtures 920.

. The merchant action recommendation system 900 includes a plurality ofmerchant employees 922, each of which includes an employee badge orother wearable article within which is incorporated a merchant beaconcommunication device 600. The merchant action recommendation system 800also includes a plurality of physical customers 924, which may besubstantially similar to the customers 500 and 504 discussed above withreference to FIG. 5, and that each include a respective customer beaconcommunication device. In addition, the merchant action recommendationsystem 900 includes representations of known virtual customers 926, oneof which is illustrated as located in an area of the primary level 902determined by the system provider device, discussed in further detailbelow.

In an embodiment, the system provider device is configured to monitormerchant virtual locations (e.g., a merchant online store) of themerchant that operates the merchant physical location and detect knownvirtual customers (e.g., customers that are registered with, loggedinto, and/or otherwise identifiable through the merchant's online store)viewing and/or purchasing products in the merchant virtual location.Furthermore, the system provider device is also configured to retrievelocation information from the merchant beacon communication devices onthe products in the primary level 902 to determine their relativelocations within the primary level 902. The system provider device maythen operate to determine an area in the primary level 902 that includesthe product being browsed by the known virtual customer 926 at themerchant virtual location, and provide the representation of the knownvirtual customer 926 adjacent the physical location in the primary level902 that includes the product that that known virtual customer isbrowsing in the merchant virtual location.

For example, the system provider may determine that a known customer isviewing a particular jacket at the merchant's online store, and inresponse may access the merchant physical location account to determinethe location of that jacket in the merchant physical location. Inresponse to determining that the jacket being viewed by the knownvirtual customer in the merchant virtual location is located in aparticular product fixture 920, the system provider device may providethe representation of the known virtual customer 926 adjacent thatproduct fixture 920. Thus, while the employees 922 and physicalcustomers 924 of FIG. 9 are actually located in the primary level 902,the known virtual customer 926 illustrated in FIG. 9 is a representationof where the system provider device determines that customer would bebased on the product the customer is viewing at the merchant virtuallocation and the known location of that product in the merchant physicallocation..

The merchant action recommendation system 900 may also include aplurality of products (e.g., located in the product fixtures 920), eachof which includes a merchant beacon communication device 600 (e.g.,including an adhesive such that the merchant beacon communication device600 may be adhered to the product box). The merchant actionrecommendation system 900 may also provide a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 on each of the product fixtures 920. Asdiscussed in further detail below, by including the merchant beaconcommunication devices 600 on each of the employees 922, products, andproduct fixtures 920, as well as the customers including customer beaconcommunication devices, the beacon devices located throughout the primarylevel 902 may communicate with each of the merchant beacon communicationdevices 600 to receive a variety of information from the sensors 606, aswell as communicate with the customer beacon communication devices asdiscussed above. As such, the location, temperature, humidity,orientation, forces, pressure, and/or other sensed properties may beperiodically reported from each of the employees 804, products, productfixtures 920, and customers to the system provider device and associatedwith the primary level 704/902 of the merchant physical location 700.

Referring now to FIG. 10, an embodiment of a portion of a merchantaction recommendation system 1000, is illustrated. The merchantrecommendation system 1000 includes an upper level 1002, which may bethe upper level 706 discussed above with reference to FIG. 7. The upperlevel 1002 includes a plurality of exterior walls 1002 a, 1002 b, 1002c, and 1002 d. The exterior wall 1002 a includes an exterior window1004. The upper level 1002 includes a counter 1006 and a plurality ofproduct fixtures 1008.

The merchant action recommendation system 1000 includes a plurality ofmerchant employees 1010, each of which includes an employee badge orother wearable article within which is incorporated a merchant beaconcommunication device 600. The merchant action recommendation system 1000also includes a plurality of physical customers 1012, which may besubstantially similar to the customers 500 and 504 discussed above withreference to FIG. 5, and that each include a respective customer beaconcommunication device. In addition, the merchant action recommendationsystem 1000 includes known virtual customers 1014, each of which may besubstantially similar to the known virtual customers 926 discussedabove. Furthermore, the merchant action recommendation system 1000includes unknown virtual customers 1016.

In an embodiment, the system provider device is configured to monitormerchant virtual locations (e.g., a merchant online store) of themerchant that operates the merchant physical location and detect unknownvirtual customers (e.g., customers that are not registered with, notlogged into, and/or are otherwise not identifiable through themerchant's online store) viewing and/or purchasing products in themerchant virtual location. Furthermore, the system provider device isalso configured to retrieve location information from the merchantbeacon communication devices on the products in the upper level 1002 todetermine their relative locations within the upper level 1002. Thesystem provider device may then operate to determine an area in theupper level 1002 that includes the product being browsed by the unknownvirtual customer 1016 at the merchant virtual location, and provide therepresentation of the unknown virtual customer 1016 adjacent thephysical location in the upper level 1002 that includes the product thatthat unknown virtual customer is browsing in the merchant virtuallocation.

For example, the system provider may determine that a unknown customeris viewing a particular jacket at the merchant's online store, and inresponse may access the merchant physical location account to determinethe location of that jacket in the merchant physical location. Inresponse to determining that the jacket being viewed by the unknownvirtual customer in the merchant virtual location is located in aparticular product fixture 1008, the system provider device may providethe representation of the unknown virtual customer 1016 adjacent thatproduct fixture 1008. Thus, while the employees 1010 and physicalcustomers 1012 of FIG. 10 are actually located in the upper level 1002,the unknown virtual customers 1016 illustrated in FIG. 10 arerepresentations of where the system provider device determines thosecustomers would be based on the product those customers are viewing atthe merchant virtual location and the known location of those productsin the merchant physical location.

Referring now to FIGS. 11-18, a plurality of different merchant actionrecommendation screens are illustrated that provide examples of how theinformation collected by the system provider devices (through thecommunication of the beacon devices with the customer beaconcommunication devices and the merchant beacon communication devices)from the inventory level 702/802, the primary level 704/902, and theupper level 706/1002 of the merchant physical location 700 may beanalyzed and provided for display to the merchant. In an embodiment, thesystem provider device operates substantially according to the method400 discussed above to provide the merchant action recommendationsscreens discussed below, but with the provision that, at block 402, thelocation information is collected from the merchant beacon communicationdevices as well as the customer beacon communication devices. Similarlyas discussed above, a variety of other sensor information may becollected similarly as described with the location information, and usedin the analysis discussed herein to provide a variety of different typesof recommendations.

With each of the merchant action recommendation screens, the merchantmay use a merchant device to request the merchant action recommendationscreens from the system provider device. Upon verifying the merchantaccount or merchant physical location account associated with themerchant device, the system provider device may retrieve any informationcollected (e.g., according to the method 400) and associated with themerchant account, analyze that information to determine merchant actionrecommendations (or retrieve previously determined merchant actionrecommendations), and provide the merchant action recommendations in themerchant action recommendation screens over the network to a displaydevice on the merchant device.

Referring first to FIG. 11, a merchant action recommendation screen 1100is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices in an inventory level of a merchant physicallocation (e.g., the inventory level 702/802 of the merchant physicallocation 700). FIG. 11 illustrates how a merchant may be providedinformation, analysis, and recommendations about merchant employees atthe merchant physical location 700. The merchant recommendation screen1100 includes an inventory level map 1102 that provides merchant assetrepresentations of each merchant asset to which a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 is attached. In the illustrated embodiment, theinventory level map 1102 includes employee representations 1104,merchant associated vehicle representations 1106, productrepresentations 1108, container representations 1110, and productrack/holder representations 1112. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, the relative position of each of those merchant assetsin and around the inventory level 702/802 may be reflected by itsrespective merchant asset representation on the inventory level map1102. As such, when merchant assets move (e.g., a merchant associatedvehicle moving products), the merchant associate vehicle representation1106 a may move along with the product representation 1108 a inreal-time or near-real-time.

The inventory level map 1102 also includes an inventory level status bar1116 that includes information collected from the inventory level702/802. For example, the illustrated inventory level status bar 1116includes a customer/employee detection status that reports the number ofcustomer types and employees detected in the format: physical customersknown online customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “0|0|0|3”in the illustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from theinformation collected from the inventory level 702/802 (e.g., a currentefficiency of “69%” in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based onalgorithms that reflect the use of employees, work performed, and/orother criteria measurable using the information collected from theinventory level 702/802.)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1100 illustrated in FIG. 11 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any merchant asset represented by a merchant assetrepresentation on the inventory level map 1102. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee) has selected theemployee representation 1104 a (illustrated by the cursor element 1114“hovering” over the employee representation 1104 a) and, in response, anemployee information box 1118 is displayed. In an embodiment, theselection of the employee representation 1104 a by the merchant sends arequest from the merchant device to the system provider device toretrieve information, analysis, and or recommendations collected fromthe merchant beacon communication devices on the inventory level 702/802and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the employee, and/or other relevantinformation, and displays that information, analysis, and/orrecommendations in the employee information box 1118.

The illustrated embodiment of the employee information box 1118 includesan image 1118 a of the employee and a plurality of employee reportsections 1118 b, 1118 c, and 1118 d that include information that hasbeen collected from the inventory level 702/802 and/or in and around themerchant physical location 700, analyzed, and/or used to providemerchant action recommendations. For example, the employee reportsection 1118 b reports the percentage of deadlines the employee ismeeting and the average amount of time the employee is taking per task.The employee report section 1118 c reports the employee's name, title,current location on the inventory level 702/802, percent of time theemployee has been located at their designated work station, the distancethe employee has walked for the day, a recommendation to send particularemployees to help the employee, and a time that the employees shift end.In one example, the percent of time the employee has been located attheir designated work station and the distance the employee has walkedfor the day may be analyzed by the system provider device and determinedto be outside of the norm (e.g., the employee may have only been attheir designated work station 8% of the day and the employee may havewalked over 7 miles that day), and that portion of the report may behighlighted for the merchant. Furthermore, the recommendation to sendparticular employees to help the employee may be based at least partlyupon that determination as well. The employee report section 1118 d alsoincludes a plurality of chart links that allow the merchant to viewother information, analysis, and/or recommendations that are related tothe employee and that may be available from the system provider device.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a merchant action recommendation screen 1200is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices and customer beacon communication devices in aprimary level of a merchant physical location (e.g., the primary level707/902 of the merchant physical location 700). FIG. 12 illustrates howa merchant may be provided information, analysis, and recommendationsabout merchant employees at the merchant physical location 700. Themerchant recommendation screen 1200 includes a primary level map 1202that includes merchant asset representations of each merchant asset towhich a merchant beacon communication device 600 is attached, as well ascustomer representations of each customer having a customer beaconcommunication device communicating with the merchant actionrecommendation system. In the illustrated embodiment, the primary levelmap 1202 includes employee representations 1204, product rack/holderrepresentations 1206, physical customer representations 1208, and knownvirtual customer representations 1210. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, location information collected from the customer beaconcommunication device on each of the customers, and online viewinginformation collected from known virtual customers using an online storeof the merchant, the relative position of each of the merchant assetsand the customers in and around the primary level 704/902 may bereflected by the respective merchant asset representations and customerrepresentations on the primary level map 1202. As such, when merchantassets and customers move (and known virtual customers view differentitems at the merchant online store), the merchant employeerepresentations 1208, customer representations 1210, and known virtualcustomer representations 1210 may move in real-time or near-real-time.

The primary level map 1202 also includes a primary level status bar 1210that includes information collected from the primary level 704/902. Forexample, the illustrated inventory level status bar 1116 includes acustomer/employee detection status that reports the number of customertypes and employees detected in the format: physical customers knownvirtual customers|unknown virtual customers|employees, or “3|1|0|3” inthe illustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from the informationcollected from the primary level 704/902 (e.g., a current efficiency of“82%” in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based on algorithmsthat reflect the use of employees, work performed, and/or other criteriameasurable using the information collected from the inventory level702/802, as well as a revenue result (e.g., “−$2,287”) that is based onhow the current efficiency compares to the target efficiency)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1200 illustrated in FIG. 12 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any merchant asset represented by a merchant assetrepresentation on the primary level map 1202. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee) has selected theemployee representation 1208 a (illustrated by the cursor element 1212“hovering” over the employee representation 1208 a) and, in response, anemployee information box 1214 is displayed. In an embodiment, theselection of the employee representation 1208 a by the merchant sends arequest from the merchant device to the system provider device toretrieve information, analysis, and or recommendations collected fromthe merchant beacon communication devices on the primary level 704/902and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the employee, and/or other relevantinformation, and displays that information, analysis, and/orrecommendations in the employee information box 1214.

The illustrated embodiment of the employee information box 1214 includesan image 1214 a of the employee and a plurality of employee reportsections 1214 b, 1214 c, and 1214 d that include information that hasbeen collected from the primary level 704/902 and/or in and around themerchant physical location 700, analyzed, and/or used to providemerchant action recommendations. For example, the employee reportsection 1214 b reports the percentage of sales that the employee isresponsible for and the average amount of each sale by the employee(which may be determined by time periods such as day, week, month,quarter, and year). The employee report section 1214 c reports theemployee's name, title, current location on the primary level 704/902,an amount of time the employee has been on the floor, an amount of timethe employee has been behind the counter, a recommendation to send aparticular employee to the counter, and a current dressing room waittime on the primary level 704/902. In one example, the amount of timethe employee has been located behind the counter may exceed the amountof time that the employee has been on the floor, and that portion of thereport may be highlighted for the merchant (particularly when theemployee is determined to be responsible for a high amount of sales).Similarly, a high current dressing room wait time may be highlighted forthe merchant. Furthermore, the recommendation to send a particularemployee to the counter may be based at least partly upon thosedeterminations. The employee report section 1214 d also includes aplurality of chart links that allow the merchant to view otherinformation, analysis, and/or recommendations related to that employeeand that may be available from the system provider device.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a merchant action recommendation screen 1300is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices and customer beacon communication devices in aprimary level of a merchant physical location (e.g., the primary level704/902 of the merchant physical location 700). FIG. 13 illustrates howa merchant may be provided information, analysis, and recommendationsabout customers at the merchant physical location 700. The merchantrecommendation screen 1300 includes a primary level map 1302 thatincludes merchant asset representations of each merchant asset to whicha merchant beacon communication device 600 is attached, as well ascustomer representations of each customer having a customer beaconcommunication device communication with the merchant actionrecommendation system. In the illustrated embodiment, the primary levelmap 1302 includes employee representations 1304, product rack/holderrepresentations 1306, physical customer representations 1308, and knownvirtual customer representations 1310. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, location information collected from the customer beaconcommunication device on each of the customers, and online viewinginformation collected from known customers using an online store of themerchant, the relative position of each of the merchant assets and thecustomers in and around the primary level 704/902 may be reflected bythe respective merchant asset representations and customerrepresentations on the primary level map 1302. As such, when merchantassets and customers move (and known virtual customers view differentitems at the merchant online store), the merchant employeerepresentations 1308, customer representations 1310, and known virtualcustomer representations 1310 may move in real-time or near-real-time.

The primary level map 1302 also includes a primary level status bar 1310that includes information collected from the primary level 704/902. Forexample, the illustrated primary level status bar 1310 includes acustomer/employee detection status that reports the number of customertypes and employees detected in the format: physical customers knownonline customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “3|1|0|3” in theillustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from the informationcollected from the primary level 704/902 (e.g., an efficiency of “82%”in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based on algorithms thatreflect the use of employees, work performed, and/or other criteriameasurable using the information collected from the inventory level702/802, as well as a revenue result (e.g., “−$2,287”) based on thetarget efficiency)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1300 illustrated in FIG. 13 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any customer representation on the primary level map1302. In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee)has selected the customer representation 1304 a (illustrated by thecursor element 1312 a “hovering” over the customer representation 1304a) and has selected the customer representation 1304 b (illustrated bythe cursor element 1312 b “hovering” over the customer representation1304 b) and, in response, customer information boxes 1314 and 1316 aredisplayed. In an embodiment, the selection of the customerrepresentations 1304 a and 1304 b by the merchant sends a request fromthe merchant device to the system provider device to retrieveinformation, analysis, and or recommendations collected from thecustomer beacon communication devices on the primary level 704/902and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the customers, and/or other relevantinformation, and displays that information, analysis, and/orrecommendations in the customer information boxes 1314 and 1316.

The illustrated embodiment, the customer information boxes 1314 and 1316include images 1314 a and 1316 a, respectively, of the customers, alongwith a plurality of customer report sections 1314 b, 1314 c, and 1314 d;and 1316 a, 1316 b, and 1316 d; respectively, that include informationthat has been collected from the primary level 704/902 and/or in andaround the merchant physical location 700, analyzed, and/or used toprovide merchant action recommendations. For example, the customerreport sections 1314 b and 1316 b report the average purchase amounts byeach of the customers, a percentage of making a possible sale to each ofthe customers, and average time it has taken to make a sale to each ofthe customers. The customer report sections 1314 c and 1316 c report thecustomer's names, customer identification numbers, the customers currentlocation on the primary level 704/902 (e.g., by department and productrack), the amount of time the customers have been in the store, a timethe customers have spent at a particular product rack, a preferred staffmember for the customers, and a recommendation to send a particularemployee to meet the customers. In one example, the amount of time acustomer has been in the store may exceed a maximum time, and thatamount of time may be highlighted for the merchant. Similarly, an amountof time a customer has been at a product rack may exceed a maximum time,and that amount of time may be highlighted for the merchant.Furthermore, the recommendation to send particular employees to thecustomers may be based at least partly upon those factors. The employeereport sections 1314 d and 1316 also include a plurality of chart linksthat allow the merchant to view other information, analysis, and/orrecommendations about the customers that may be available from thesystem provider device.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a merchant action recommendation screen 1400is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices and customer beacon communication devices in anupper level of a merchant physical location (e.g., the primary level706/1002 of the merchant physical location 700). FIG. 14 illustrates howa merchant may be provided information, analysis, and recommendationsabout virtual customers at a merchant virtual location and have thatinformation related to the merchant physical location 700. The merchantrecommendation screen 1400 includes an upper level map 1402 thatincludes merchant asset representations of each merchant asset to whicha merchant beacon communication device 600 is attached, as well ascustomer representations of each customer having a customer beaconcommunication device communicating with the merchant actionrecommendation system. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper levelmap 1402 includes employee representations 1404, product rack/holderrepresentations 1406, physical customer representations 1408, knownvirtual customer representations 1410, and unknown virtual customerrepresentations 1412. Using the location information collected from themerchant beacon communication device on each of the merchant assets,location information collected from the customer beacon communicationdevice on each of the customers, and online viewing informationcollected from known virtual customers and unknown virtual customersusing an online store of the merchant, the relative position of each ofthe merchant assets and the customers in and around the upper level706/1002 may be reflected by the respective merchant assetrepresentations and customer representations on the upper level map1402. As such, when merchant assets and customers move (and knownvirtual customers or unknown virtual customers view different items atthe merchant online store), the employee representations 1404, productrack/holder representations 1406, physical customer representations1408, known virtual customer representations 1410, and unknown virtualcustomer representations 1412 may move in real-time or near-real-time.

The upper level map 1402 also includes an upper level status bar 1414that includes information collected from the upper level 706/1002. Forexample, the illustrated upper level status bar 1414 includes acustomer/employee detection status that reports the number of customertypes and employees detected in the format: physical customers knownonline customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “2|1|3|1” in theillustrated embodiment), and analysis provided from the informationcollected from the upper level 706/1002 (e.g., an efficiency of “96%” inthe illustrated embodiment, which may be based on algorithms thatreflect the use of employees, work performed, and/or other criteriameasurable using the information collected from the upper level706/1002, as well as a revenue result (e.g., “+$2,287”) based on atarget efficiency)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1400 illustrated in FIG. 14 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any customer representation on the upper level map1402. In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee)has selected the known virtual customer representation 1410 (illustratedby the cursor element 1416 a “hovering” over the known virtual customerrepresentation 1410) and has selected the unknown virtual customerrepresentation 1412 a (illustrated by the cursor element 1416 b“hovering” over the unknown virtual customer representation 1412 a) and,in response, a known virtual customer information box 1418 and anunknown virtual customer information box 1420 are displayed. In anembodiment, the selection of the known virtual customer representation1410 and the unknown virtual customer representation 1412 a by themerchant sends a request from the merchant device to the system providerdevice to retrieve information, analysis, and or recommendationscollected on the upper level 706/1002 and/or elsewhere in or around themerchant physical location 700, information associated with the virtualcustomers, and/or other relevant information, and displays thatinformation, analysis, and/or recommendations in the known virtualcustomer information box 1418 and unknown virtual customer informationbox 1420.

The illustrated embodiment of the known virtual customer information box1418 and unknown virtual customer information box 1420 includes an image1418 a and a lack of an image 1420 a (for the unknown virtual customer),respectively, and a plurality of customer report sections 1418 b, 1418c, and 1418 d; and 1420 a, 1420 b, and 1420 d; respectively, thatinclude information that has been collected from the upper level706/1002, in and around the merchant physical location 700, and from themerchant virtual location, analyzed, and/or used to provide merchantaction recommendations. For example, the customer report sections 1418 band 1420 b report the average purchase amount for the known virtualcustomer and an unknown average purchase amount for the unknown virtualcustomer, and a possibility of making a sale to the known and unknownvirtual customers. The customer report sections 1418 c and 1420 c reportthe customer's names (if available), customer identification numbers (ifavailable), each customers virtual current location on the upper level706/1002 (e.g., by department and product rack), products that each ofthe known and unknown virtual customers are currently looking at, anamount of time each customer has been in the merchant online store, andan option to initiate a chat with the known and unknown online virtualcustomers. The employee report sections 1314 d and 1316 also include aplurality of chart links that allow the merchant to view otherinformation, analysis, and/or recommendations about the known and/orunknown virtual customers that may be available from the system providerdevice.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a merchant action recommendation screen 1500is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices in an inventory level of a merchant physicallocation (e.g., the inventory level 702/802 of the merchant physicallocation 700).). FIG. 15 illustrates how a merchant may be providedinformation, analysis, and recommendations about merchant associatedvehicles in the merchant physical location 700. The merchantrecommendation screen 1500 includes an inventory level map 1502 thatincludes merchant asset representations of each merchant asset to whicha merchant beacon communication device 600 is attached. In theillustrated embodiment, the inventory level map 1502 includes employeerepresentations 1504, merchant associated vehicle representations 1506,product representations 1508, container representations 1510, andproduct rack/holder representations 1512. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, the relative position of each of those merchant assetsin and around the inventory level 702/802 may be reflected by itsrespective merchant asset representation on the inventory level map1502. As such, when merchant assets move (e.g., a merchant associatedvehicle moving products), the merchant associate vehicle representation1506 a may move along with the product representation 1508 a inreal-time or near-real-time.

The inventory level map 1502 also includes an inventory level status bar1516 that includes information collected from the inventory level702/802. For example, the illustrated inventory level status bar 1516includes a customer/employee detection status that reports the number ofcustomer types and employees detected in the format: physical customersknown online customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “0|0|0|3”in the illustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from theinformation collected from the inventory level 702/802 (e.g., anefficiency of “69%” in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based onalgorithms that reflect the use of employees, work performed, and/orother criteria measurable using the information collected from theinventory level 702/802.)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1500 illustrated in FIG. 15 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any merchant asset represented by a merchant assetrepresentation on the inventory level map 1502. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee) has selected themerchant associated vehicle representations 1506 a, 1506 b, and 1506 c(illustrated by the cursor elements 1514 a, 1514 b, and 1514 c“hovering” over the respective merchant associated vehiclerepresentations 1506 a, 1506 b, and 1506 c) and, in response, merchantassociated vehicle information boxes 1518, 1520, and 1522 are displayed.In an embodiment, the selection of the merchant associated vehiclerepresentations 1506 a, 1506 b, and 1506 c by the merchant sends arequest from the merchant device to the system provider device toretrieve information, analysis, and or recommendations collected fromthe merchant beacon communication devices on the inventory level 702/802and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the merchant associated vehicles, and/orother relevant information, and displays that information, analysis,and/or recommendations in the merchant associated vehicle informationboxes 1518, 1520, and 1522.

The illustrated embodiment of the merchant associated vehicleinformation boxes 1518, 1520, and 1522 each include an image 1518 a,1520 a, and 1522 a for the merchant associated vehicles and a pluralityof merchant associated vehicle report sections 1518 b, 1518 c, and 1518d; 1520 a, 1520 b, and 1520 c; and 1522 a, 1522 b, and 1522 c,respectively, that include information that has been collected from theinventory level 702/802 and/or in and around the merchant physicallocation 700, analyzed, and/or used to provide merchant actionrecommendations. For example, the merchant associated vehicle reportsection 1518 b reports a total number of items outbound on the merchantassociated vehicle, a number of priority items on the merchantassociated vehicle, and an amount of time remaining for the inventorytransfer to the merchant associated vehicle to complete; the merchantassociated vehicle report section 1520 b reports a total number of itemsinbound on the merchant associated vehicle, a number of priority itemson the merchant associated vehicle, and an amount of time over theexpected time to complete the inventory transfer from the merchantassociated vehicle; and the merchant associated vehicle report section1522 b reports that the merchant associated vehicle 1506 c is empty,heading to a particular area in the inventory level 702/802, leaving aparticular area in the inventory level 702/802, and a level of chargefor the merchant associated vehicle.

Furthermore, the merchant associated vehicle report section 1520 creports a vehicle operator for the merchant associated vehicle, avehicle number for the merchant associated vehicle, a driver name forthe merchant associated vehicle, a current location of the merchantassociated vehicle, a number of items remaining on the merchantassociated vehicle, an estimated departure time for the merchantassociated vehicle, and a link to shipment details for the inventorytransfer associated with the merchant associated vehicle; the merchantassociated vehicle report section 1520 c reports a vehicle operator forthe merchant associated vehicle, a current location of the merchantassociated vehicle, a number of items remaining in the merchantassociated vehicle, an estimated departure time for the merchantassociated vehicle, an employee in the inventory level 702/802 that isnearest to the merchant associated vehicle, a recommendation totemporarily assign a particularly employee to the merchant associatedvehicle, and other vehicles (e.g., forklift vehicles) to temporarilyassign to the merchant associated vehicle; and the merchant associatedvehicle report section 1522 c reports the type of the merchantassociated vehicle, the driver of the merchant associated vehicle, thecurrent location of the merchant associated vehicle, a current speed ofthe merchant associated vehicle, an average speed for the day of themerchant associated vehicle, an average time for deliveries by themerchant associated vehicle, and a cumulative time the merchantassociated vehicle has not moved for the day.

In one example, the items remaining on a merchant associated vehicle andthe estimated departure time of a merchant associated vehicle may exceedmaximums in the merchant associated vehicle report section 1520 c, andthose portions of the report may be highlights for the merchant.Similarly, the current speed of the merchant associated vehicle, averagespeed of the merchant associated vehicle, and cumulative time themerchant associated vehicle has not moved may exceed maximums in themerchant associated vehicle report section 1522 c, and those portions ofthe report may be highlights for the merchant. Furthermore, therecommendation to assign particular employees to the merchant associatedvehicle in the merchant associated vehicle report section 1520 c may bebased at least partly upon the information that that employee is nearestto the vehicle. The employee report sections 1518 d, 1520 d, and 1522 dalso includes a plurality of chart links that allow the merchant to viewother information, analysis, and/or recommendations related to themerchant associated vehicles that may be available from the systemprovider device.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a merchant action recommendation screen 1600is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices in an inventory level of a merchant physicallocation (e.g., the inventory level 702/802 of the merchant physicallocation 700). FIG. 16 illustrates how a merchant may be providedinformation, analysis, and recommendations about containers in themerchant physical location 700. The merchant recommendation screen 1600includes an inventory level map 1602 that includes merchant assetrepresentations of each merchant asset to which a merchant beaconcommunication device 600 is attached. In the illustrated embodiment, theinventory level map 1602 includes employee representations 1604,merchant associated vehicle representations 1606, productrepresentations 1608, container representations 1610, and productrack/holder representations 1612. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, the relative position of each of those merchant assetsin and around the inventory level 702/802 may be reflected by itsrespective merchant asset representation on the inventory level map1602. As such, when merchant assets move (e.g., a merchant associatedvehicle moving products), the merchant associate vehicle representation1606 a may move along with the product representation 1608 a inreal-time or near-real-time.

The inventory level map 1602 also includes an inventory level status bar1616 that includes information collected from the inventory level702/802. For example, the illustrated inventory level status bar 1616includes a customer/employee detection status that reports the number ofcustomer types and employees detected in the format: physical customersknown online customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “0|0|0|3”in the illustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from theinformation collected from the inventory level 702/802 (e.g., anefficiency of “69%” in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based onalgorithms that reflect the use of employees, work performed, and/orother criteria measurable using the information collected from theinventory level 702/802.)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1600 illustrated in FIG. 16 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any merchant asset represented by a merchant assetrepresentation on the inventory level map 1602. In the illustratedembodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee) has selected a containerrepresentation 1610 (illustrated by the cursor element 1614 “hovering”over the container representation 1610) and, in response, a containerinformation box 1618 is displayed. In an embodiment, the selection ofthe container representation 1610 by the merchant sends a request fromthe merchant device to the system provider device to retrieveinformation, analysis, and or recommendations collected from themerchant beacon communication devices on the inventory level 702/802and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the containers, and/or other relevantinformation, and displays that information, analysis, and/orrecommendations in the merchant associated container information 1618.

The illustrated embodiment of the container information 1618 includes animage 1618 a for container and a plurality of container report sections1618 b, 1618 d, and 1618 e that include information that has beencollected from the inventory level 702/802 and/or in and around themerchant physical location 700, analyzed, and/or used to providemerchant action recommendations. For example, the container reportsection 1618 b reports a total number of items in the container, anumber of priority items in the container, and an amount of time thatthe container will be remain located on the inventory level 702/802.Furthermore, the merchant associated vehicle report section 1618 creports a type of the container (e.g. “Apparel Cart”), a status of thecontainer, a location of the container on the inventory level 702/802, anext area in the merchant physical location for items in the container,an average time it takes to unload the container, an employee on theinventory level 702/802 that is closest to the container, and arecommendation to assign a particular employee to the container. In oneexample, the recommendation to assign a particular employee to thecontainer may be based at least partly upon the information that thatemployee is nearest to the container. The employee report section 1618 dalso includes a plurality of chart links that allow the merchant to viewother information, analysis, and/or recommendations related to thecontainer that may be available from the system provider device.

Referring now to FIG. 17, a merchant action recommendation screen 1700is illustrated that includes information retrieved from merchant beaconcommunication devices and customer beacon communication devices in aprimary level of a merchant physical location (e.g., the primary level704/902 of the merchant physical location 700). FIG. 17 illustrates howa merchant may be provided information, analysis, and recommendationsabout product racks/holders in the merchant physical location 700. Themerchant recommendation screen 1700 includes a primary level map 1702that includes merchant asset representations of each merchant asset towhich a merchant beacon communication device 600 is attached, as well ascustomer representations of each customer having a customer beaconcommunication device communication with the merchant actionrecommendation system. In the illustrated embodiment, the primary levelmap 1702 includes employee representations 1704, product rack/holderrepresentations 1706, physical customer representations 1708, and knownvirtual customer representations 1710. Using the location informationcollected from the merchant beacon communication device on each of themerchant assets, location information collected from the customer beaconcommunication device on each of the customers, and online viewinginformation collected from known customers using an online store of themerchant, the relative position of each of the merchant assets and thecustomers in and around the primary level 704/902 may be reflected bythe respective merchant asset representations and customerrepresentations on the primary level map 1702. As such, when merchantassets and customers move (and known virtual customers view differentitems at the merchant online store), the merchant employeerepresentations 1708, customer representations 1710, and known virtualcustomer representations 1710 may move in real-time or near-real-time.

The primary level map 1702 also includes a primary level status bar 1710that includes information collected from the primary level 704/902. Forexample, the illustrated primary level status bar 1710 include acustomer/employee detection status that reports the number of customertypes and employees detected in the format physical customers knownonline customers|unknown online customers|employees, or “3|1|0|3” in theillustrated embodiment, and analysis provided from the informationcollected from the primary level 704/902 (e.g., an efficiency of “82%”in the illustrated embodiment, which may be based on algorithms thatreflect the use of employees, work performed, and/or other criteriameasurable using the information collected from the inventory level702/802, as well as a revenue result (e.g., “−$2,287”) based on a targetefficiency)

The merchant action recommendation screen 1700 illustrated in FIG. 17 isalso illustrating how a merchant may retrieve analysis andrecommendations for any customer representation on the primary level map1702. In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant (or merchant employee)has selected the product rack/holder representation 1706 a (illustratedby the cursor element 1712 “hovering” over the product rack/holderrepresentation 1706 a) and, in response, a product rack/holderinformation box 1714 is displayed. In an embodiment, the selection ofthe product rack/holder representations 1706 a by the merchant sends arequest from the merchant device to the system provider device toretrieve information, analysis, and or recommendations collected fromthe merchant beacon communication devices on the primary level 704/902and/or elsewhere in or around the merchant physical location 700,information associated with the customers, and/or other relevantinformation, and displays that information, analysis, and/orrecommendations in the product rack/holder information box 1714.

The illustrated embodiment of the product rack/holder information box1714 includes an image 1714 a of the product rack/holder and a pluralityof product rack/holder report sections 1714 b, 1714 c, and 1714 d, thatinclude information that has been collected from the primary level704/902 and/or in and around the merchant physical location 700,analyzed, and/or used to provide merchant action recommendations. Forexample, the product rack/holder report section 1714 b report the totalnumber of items on the product rack/holder, the average price of itemsin the product rack/holder, and the amount of time between sales ofproducts in the product/rack holder. The product rack/holder reportsection 1714 c reports the type of product rack/holder (e.g., an“Apparel Rack”), the status of the product rack/holder (e.g., “full” inthe illustrated embodiment), the location of the product rack/holder onthe primary level 704/902, the area in the merchant location 700 wheresales from the product rack/holder are the highest, the area in themerchant location 700 where sales from the product rack/holder are thelowest, and the closest employee to the product rack/holder. The productrack/holder report section 1714 d include a plurality of chart linksthat allow the merchant to view other information, analysis, and/orrecommendations related to the product rack/holder that may be availablefrom the system provider device.

Referring now to FIG. 18, an embodiment of a cumulative merchant actionrecommendation screen 1800 is illustrated. In some embodiments, themerchant action recommendation systems discussed above may be providedin multiple merchant physical locations that are all associated with thesame merchant. In such embodiments, it may be desirable for the merchantto be able to monitor all of those merchant physical locations, receiveinformation collected from each of the merchant action recommendationsystems, and be provided recommendations that increase the efficiency ofthe operation of the merchant physical locations. As such, thecumulative merchant action recommendation screen 1800 may be providedthat gives the merchant a “snapshot” of the current operation of theirmultiple merchant physical locations, and provides information,analysis, and recommendations based on the information received fromthose merchant physical locations substantially as discussed above.

The cumulative merchant action recommendation screen 1800 includes a “MyStores” bar 1802 that provides a global view of efficiency numbers for aplurality of different merchant physical locations associated with themerchant. In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant may have selecteda merchant physical location representation 1802 a in the “My Stores”bar 1802 to retrieve a merchant physical location summary box 1804. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the merchant physical location summary box1804 is displaying information for a Main Floor 1804 of the selectedmerchant physical location, and allows a user to view differentinformation associated with the Main Floor 1804 by selecting aninformation type in an information selector menu 1804 b (e.g., “views”,“overview”, “profit”, “loss”, and “time”). The merchant physicallocation summary box 1804 also includes a main floor map 1804 c thatillustrates the main floor of the selected merchant physical location.

In response to the merchant selecting a “profit” information type on theinformation selector menu, the merchant physical location summary box1804 may include a profit efficiency section 1804 d that includesindicators for the amount of profit for a plurality of time periods,along with percentages of an average profit that are currently beingreported for those time periods (e.g., the illustrated embodimentindicates that the main floor of the selected merchant physical locationis currently making $0.04/second that is 45% of the averageprofit/second, $2.40/minute that is 86% of the average profit/minute,$144.00/hour that is 92% of the average profit/hour, $1152.00/day thatis 89% of the average profit/day, and $6912.00/month that is 95% of theaverage profit/month.) The merchant physical location summary box 1804may also include an information section 1804 e for the selected merchantphysical location that provides collected information about storerevenue and total revenue, staff cost and store revenue, current numberof staff and that number as a percentage of the average number of staff,current efficiency of staff and that number as a percentage of theaverage efficiency of staff, and/or any other information collected fromthe merchant action recommendation systems discussed above.

The cumulative merchant action recommendation screen 1800 also includesa recommendation box 1806 detailing a plurality of event 1806 aoccurring at the selected merchant physical location and recommendations1806 b for the selected merchant physical location. For example, theillustrated embodiment includes an event that indicates that aninventory shipment was received and unloaded early along with arecommendation that a “thanks” message be sent to the staff, an eventthat indicates the selected merchant physical location is running low oninventory along with a recommendation to order more of that inventor andan alternative to that inventory, an event that indicates that inventoryis being unloaded slowly (which is projected to cost the merchant$104.23) and a recommendation to temporarily assign employees to unloadthat inventory (along with the cost to the merchant to temporarilyassign those employees), and an event that indicates that a wait time iscosting the merchant money and a recommendation to notify the staff,provide timed offers, and consider a new configuration of the selectedmerchant physical location.

The cumulative merchant action recommendation screen 1800 also includesa company summary box 1808 that includes a profit indicator 1808 a forthe combined merchant physical locations, average profits andcosts/sales 1808 b for the combined merchant physical locations, a chart1808 c that may chart the profits for the combined merchant physicallocations, and efficiency numbers 1808 c for the combined merchantphysical locations. While an example of a cumulative merchant actionrecommendation screen 1800 displaying some information based on aselected merchant physical location has been provided, one of skill inthe art in possession of the present disclosure will recognize that anymerchant location and any information type may be selected to retrieveinformation, analysis, and recommendations using the informationcollected from the respective merchant action recommendation systems inthose merchant physical locations. Furthermore, one of skill in the artin possession of the present disclosure will recognize that a widevariety of different information may be collected in merchant actionrecommendation systems of those merchant physical locations, and thusalmost any merchant or customer metric may be reported using thecumulative merchant action recommendation screen 1800.

Thus, systems and methods for collecting merchant and customerinformation and using that information to provide merchant actionrecommendations has been provided that utilize a network of beacondevices that are configured to communication with beacon communicationdevices. Customers may utilize their customer mobile phones as customerbeacon communication devices, while merchant beacon communicationdevices may be provided by the merchant on any merchant asset associatedwith the merchant. The communication between the beacon communicationdevices and the beacon devices collects any information that sensors inthe beacon communication devices can sense, and in specific embodiments,collects location information for the customers and merchant assets inand around a merchant physical location to track the locations of thecustomers and merchant assets and analyzes changing locations to makerecommendations to the merchant to perform specific actions. The systemsand methods described herein give the merchant a granular view of theirmerchant physical location(s), and allow for the merchant to correctinefficiencies that might otherwise go unnoticed, increasing profits forthe merchant.

Referring now to FIG. 19, an embodiment of a network-based system 1900for implementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated.As shown, the network-based system 1900 may comprise or implement aplurality of servers and/or software components that operate to performvarious methodologies in accordance with the described embodiments.Exemplary servers may include, for example, stand-alone andenterprise-class servers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS,a UNIX® OS, a LINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can beappreciated that the servers illustrated in FIG. 19 may be deployed inother ways and that the operations performed and/or the servicesprovided by such servers may be combined or separated for a givenimplementation and may be performed by a greater number or fewer numberof servers. One or more servers may be operated and/or maintained by thesame or different entities.

The embodiment of the networked system 1900 illustrated in FIG. 19includes a plurality of customer devices 1902, a plurality of merchantdevices 1904, a plurality of beacon devices 1906, a plurality ofmerchant beacon communication devices 1908, a payment service providerdevice 1910, and/or a system provider device 1912 in communication overone or more networks 1914. The customer devices 1902 may be the customerdevices discussed above and may be operated by the customers discussedabove.

The merchant devices 1904, beacon devices 1906, and merchant beaconcommunication devices 1908 may be the merchant devices, beacon devices,and merchant beacon communication devices discussed above and may beoperated by the merchants discussed above. The payment service providerdevice 1910 may be the payment service provider devices discussed aboveand may be operated by a payment service provider such as, for example,PayPal Inc. of San Jose, Calif. The system provider devices 1912 may bethe system provider devices discussed above and may be operated by thesystem providers discussed above.

The customer devices 1902, merchant devices 1904, beacon devices 1906,merchant beacon communication devices 1908, payment service providerdevice 1910, and/or system provider device 1912 may each include one ormore processors, memories, and other appropriate components forexecuting instructions such as program code and/or data stored on one ormore computer readable mediums to implement the various applications,data, and steps described herein. For example, such instructions may bestored in one or more computer readable mediums such as memories or datastorage devices internal and/or external to various components of thesystem 1900, and/or accessible over the network 1914.

The network 1914 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network1914 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The customer devices 1902 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 1914. For example, in oneembodiment, the customer devices 1902 may be implemented as a personalcomputer of a user in communication with the Internet. In otherembodiments, the customer devices 1902 may be a smart phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types ofcomputing devices.

The customer devices 1902 may include one or more browser applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit the customer to browse information available over the network1914. For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may beimplemented as a web browser configured to view information availableover the Internet.

The customer devices 1902 may also include one or more toolbarapplications which may be used, for example, to provide user-sideprocessing for performing desired tasks in response to operationsselected by the customer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application maydisplay a user interface in connection with the browser application.

The customer devices 1902 may further include other applications as maybe desired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thecustomer devices 1902. In particular, the other applications may includea payment application for payments assisted by a payment serviceprovider through the payment service provider device 1910. The otherapplications may also include security applications for implementinguser-side security features, programmatic user applications forinterfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs)over the network 1914, or other types of applications. Email and/or textapplications may also be included, which allow customer payer to sendand receive emails and/or text messages through the network 1914. Thecustomer devices 1902 includes one or more user and/or deviceidentifiers which may be implemented, for example, as operating systemregistry entries, cookies associated with the browser application,identifiers associated with hardware of the customer devices 1902, orother appropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In oneembodiment, the user identifier may be used by the payment serviceprovider device 1910 to associate the user with a particular account asfurther described herein.

The merchant devices 1904 may be maintained, for example, by aconventional or on-line merchant, conventional or digital goods seller,individual seller, and/or application developer offering variousproducts and/or services in exchange for payment to be receivedconventionally or over the network 1914. In this regard, the merchantdevices 1904 may include a database identifying available productsand/or services (e.g., collectively referred to as items) which may bemade available for viewing and purchase by the customer.

The merchant devices 1904 also includes a checkout application which maybe configured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. Thecheckout application may be configured to accept payment informationfrom the user through the customer devices 1902 and/or from the paymentservice provider through the payment service provider device 1910 overthe network 1914.

Referring now to FIG. 20, an embodiment of a customer device 2000 isillustrated. The customer device 2000 may be the customer device 1902discussed above. The customer device 2000 includes a chassis 2002 havinga display 2004 and an input device including the display 2004 and aplurality of input buttons 2006. One of skill in the art will recognizethat the customer device 2000 is a portable or mobile phone including atouch screen input device and a plurality of input buttons that allowthe functionality discussed above with reference to the methods above.However, a variety of other portable/mobile customer devices and/ordesktop customer devices may be used in the methods discussed abovewithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 21, an embodiment of a wearable merchant device2100 is illustrated. The wearable merchant device 2100 may be the may bethe wearable merchant devices, discussed above. The wearable merchantdevice 2100 includes a frame 2102 having a computing chassis 2104 thatextends from the frame 2102, a display device 2106 that extends from thecomputing chassis 2104, a microphone 2108 located on the computingchassis 2104, and a camera 2110 located on the computing chassis 2104.One of skill in the art will recognize that the wearable merchant device2100 is a mobile wearable merchant device such as, for example, GoogleGlass® available from Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. that mayprovide a user with the functionality discussed above with reference tothe methods discussed above. However, a variety of other mobile wearablemerchant devices may be used in the methods discussed above withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure

Referring now to FIG. 22, an embodiment of a computer system 2200suitable for implementing, for example, the customer devices 1902,merchant devices 1904, beacon devices 1906, merchant beaconcommunication devices 1908, payment service provider device 1910, and/orsystem provider device 1912, is illustrated. It should be appreciatedthat other devices utilized by customers, merchants, beacon devices,merchant beacon communication devices, payment service providers, and/orsystem providers in the system discussed above may be implemented as thecomputer system 2200 in a manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 2200, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 202 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 2204 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 2206 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 2208 (e.g., ROM), a disk drivecomponent 2210 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interfacecomponent 2212 (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 2214(e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component 2218 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, orvirtual keyboard), a cursor control component 2220 (e.g., mouse,pointer, or trackball), a location determination component 2222 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art), and/or a camera component 2223. In oneimplementation, the disk drive component 2210 may comprise a databasehaving one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 2200 performs specific operations by the processor 2204 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component2206, such as described herein with respect to the customer devices1902, merchant devices 1904, beacon devices 1906, merchant beaconcommunication devices 1908, payment service provider device 1910, and/orsystem provider device 1912. Such instructions may be read into thesystem memory component 2206 from another computer readable medium, suchas the static storage component 2208 or the disk drive component 2210.In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement the presentdisclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor2204 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 2210, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 2206, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 2202. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 2200. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 2200 coupledby a communication link 2224 to the network 1914 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 2200 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 2224 and the networkinterface component 2212. The network interface component 2212 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 2224. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 2204 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 2210 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Referring now to FIGS. 23, an embodiment of a system provider device2300 is illustrated. In an embodiment, the device 2300 may be the systemprovider device discussed above. The device 2300 includes acommunication engine 2302 that is coupled to the network 1914 and to ananalysis and recommendation engine 2304 that is coupled to aninformation database 2306. The communication engine 2302 may be softwareor instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that allows thedevice 2300 to send and receive information over the network 1914. Theanalysis and recommendation engine 2304 may be software or instructionsstored on a computer-readable medium that is operable to collectinformation from the beacon devices, analyze that information andprovide the information, analysis, and recommendations to the merchantas discussed above, as well as provide any of the other functionalitythat is discussed above. While the database 2306 has been illustrated aslocated in the device 2300, one of skill in the art will recognize thatit may be connected to the analysis and recommendation engine 2304through the network 1914 without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on merchants and customers; however, a customeror consumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, merchant as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from acustomer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a non-transitory memorycomprising instructions; and one or more hardware processors coupled tothe non-transitory memory and configured to read the instructions tocause the system to perform operations comprising: detecting, during afirst time period, a first device of a first user that is located at afirst location associated with a merchant, wherein the first location isassociated with a first product or service; detecting, via a networkconnection during a first time period, on a resource page correspondingto the merchant, one or more online actions by a second deviceassociated with a second user, wherein the one or more online actionscorrespond to the first product or service; generating and providing auser interface on a merchant device, wherein the user interface includesa first user interface element corresponding to the first product orservice, a second user interface element corresponding to the firstuser, and a third user interface element corresponding to the seconduser, and wherein the first user interface element, the second userinterface element, and the third user interface element are displayedone the user interface at the same time; receiving, via the merchantdevice, a first selection of the first user interface element, thesecond user interface element, or the third user interface element; andin response to receiving the first selection, providing a firstinformation on the user interface, wherein the first informationcorresponds to the first product or service, the first user, or thesecond user.
 2. The system of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising: determining one or more recommendations based on thedetecting the one or more online actions by the second device and thedetecting that the first user is located in the first location; andproviding, via the user interface on the merchant device, the one ormore recommendations.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one orrecommendations include determining a traffic pattern corresponding tothe first product or service, and an amount of sales resulting from thedetermined traffic pattern.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstinformation corresponds to the first product or service, and the firstinformation includes product inventory information or transactionalinformation corresponding to the first product or service.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the first information corresponds to the first user,and the first information includes previous transactional informationassociated with the first user.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein acharacteristic of the second user interface element within the userinterface provides an indication that the first user is located at thefirst location.
 7. The system of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising, based on determining that a location of the first user haschanged to a second location, updating an information corresponding tothe second user interface element on the user interface.
 8. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereonmachine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to performoperations comprising: detecting, during a first time period, a firstdevice of a first user that is located at a first location associatedwith a merchant, wherein the first location is associated with a firstproduct or service; detecting, via a network connection during a firsttime period, on a resource page corresponding to the merchant, one ormore online actions by a second device associated with a second user,wherein the one or more online actions correspond to the first productor service; generating and providing a user interface on a merchantdevice, wherein the user interface includes a first user interfaceelement corresponding to the first product or service, a second userinterface element corresponding to the first user, and a third userinterface element corresponding to the second user, and wherein thefirst user interface element, the second user interface element, and thethird user interface element are displayed one the user interface at thesame time; receiving, via the merchant device, a first selection of thefirst user interface element, the second user interface element, or thethird user interface element; and in response to receiving the firstselection, providing a first information on the user interface, whereinthe first information corresponds to the first product or service, thefirst user, or the second user.
 9. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 8, the operations further comprising: determining one ormore recommendations based on the detecting the one or more onlineactions by the second device and the detecting that the first user islocated in the first location; and providing, via the user interface onthe merchant device, the one or more recommendations.
 10. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one orrecommendations include determining a traffic pattern corresponding tothe first product or service, and an amount of sales resulting from thedetermined traffic pattern.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the first information corresponds to thefirst product or service, and the first information includes productinventory information or transactional information corresponding to thefirst product or service.
 12. The non-transitory machine-readable mediumof claim 8, wherein the first information corresponds to the first user,and the first information includes previous transactional informationassociated with the first user.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein a characteristic of the second user interfaceelement within the user interface provides an indication that the firstuser is located at the first location.
 14. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising,based on determining that a location of the first user has changed to asecond location, updating an information corresponding to the seconduser interface element on the user interface.
 15. A method, comprising:detecting, during a first time period, a first device of a first userthat is located at a first location associated with a merchant, whereinthe first location is associated with a first product or service;detecting, via a network connection during a first time period, on aresource page corresponding to the merchant, one or more online actionsby a second device associated with a second user, wherein the one ormore online actions correspond to the first product or service;generating and providing a user interface on a merchant device, whereinthe user interface includes a first user interface element correspondingto the first product or service, a second user interface elementcorresponding to the first user, and a third user interface elementcorresponding to the second user, and wherein the first user interfaceelement, the second user interface element, and the third user interfaceelement are displayed one the user interface at the same time;receiving, via the merchant device, a first selection of the first userinterface element, the second user interface element, or the third userinterface element; and in response to receiving the first selection,providing a first information on the user interface, wherein the firstinformation corresponds to the first product or service, the first user,or the second user.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:determining one or more recommendations based on the detecting the oneor more online actions by the second device and the detecting that thefirst user is located in the first location; and providing, via the userinterface on the merchant device, the one or more recommendations. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein the one or recommendations includedetermining a traffic pattern corresponding to the first product orservice, and an amount of sales resulting from the determined trafficpattern.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first informationcorresponds to the first product or service, and the first informationincludes product inventory information or transactional informationcorresponding to the first product or service.
 19. The method of claim15, wherein the first information corresponds to the first user, and thefirst information includes previous transactional information associatedwith the first user.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein acharacteristic of the second user interface element within the userinterface provides an indication that the first user is located at thefirst location.